


Broken Promises

by justhappytobehere1



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Anakin Skywalker Needs a Hug, F/M, One Shot, Planet Naboo (Star Wars), Post-Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Protective Padmé Amidala
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:16:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24326389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justhappytobehere1/pseuds/justhappytobehere1
Summary: Anakin looked at the kids, his kids, the incarnations of brightness and joy. He felt almost like he was seeing them for the first time, caressing their little heads, seeing Leia’s fire, Luke’s compassion. He couldn’t believe it. He’d saved her, he’d saved them, if they were here. A family, his family.
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa & Anakin Skywalker, Leia Organa & Luke Skywalker, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 3
Kudos: 63





	Broken Promises

One never really means for things to turn out the way they do. Even with the best of intentions.

But things seemed to turn out just fine. The little golden haired boy, the girl just like her mother. Luke. Leia. Light. Heaven.

It was a bright day, surrounded by the waterfalls of Naboo, where he fell in love many times over. The fear was gone, the dark had receded, and in their place were the two smiling children. It didn’t matter anymore what life had been like before. Oppression on Tatooine and confusion on Coruscant were a distant memory. The pull to the dark was gone.

Across his lap lay a dark haired young woman with a soft smile, the very sight of her making his heart beat faster. He slipped his fingers into the intricate braids of her hair, stroked her dear lovely face. A girl that deserved to be protected. Loved. 

“Anakin,” she said. 

“Padmé,” he said softly, focusing on the softness of her skin and the sun on his head. It seemed to him like it had been a long time since he felt it. He placed a gentle kiss on her fingers, her wrist. Why did it feel like it had been so long?

“You know I love you. Unconditionally. No matter what happens.” She looked up at him with doe eyes. 

_Are you an angel?_ “I love you. Always.”

“I know, Ani.” Her eyes shimmered as she looked adoringly at his face and kissed him on the cheek. “You’re so handsome.” 

Anakin’s heart swelled and he caught her head and kissed her, her rosebud lips, her eyelids. She was so perfect, so filled with all things good, and she loved _him_. He had done everything for her, would always do everything for her, till death and beyond. 

He twirled her brown hair in his fingers, dark contrast against his skin. The flowers bent towards him in the breeze, and never had he felt so at peace. His love. His life. 

Padmé lifted her head sleepily and pointed towards the twins. “Look.”

There amongst the yellow flowers and wild grasses were the children, capturing a butterfly in a Force hold, admiring its blue wings.

“Kids, let it go. Don’t hurt the butterfly,” Anakin admonished, standing and holding Padmé’s hand clumsily.

“I would never,” Leia batted her eyes and clasped her tiny hands together. “It was Luke!”

“Leia!” Luke scowled at his sister and let go of the butterfly.

Anakin looked at the kids, his kids, the incarnations of brightness and joy. He felt almost like he was seeing them for the first time, caressing their little heads, seeing Leia’s fire, Luke’s compassion. He couldn’t believe it. He’d saved her, he’d saved them, if they were here. A family, his family. 

Padmé leaned down and mussed Leia’s braids. “My loves,” she said, in her honeyed voice, “remember a true Jedi uses the Force to help, not hurt.” 

Luke pouted and Anakin recognized the slouch of his own brow, the curve of his own cheek. _My son_ , he thought, his very soul expanding. 

Anakin slung the children over his shoulder and tickled them. “You are my favorite Jedi, even if you’re bothering the butterflies,” He chuckled.

Padmé’s faced softened as she reached out to touch Luke’s shoulder. “There is so much good in them. Like in you,” she said as she turned to her husband.

Anakin squeezed her hand and held the children against him, unsure what she meant but too dizzy with sunlight and love to care. They stood there a moment, together, and all he could feel were the three people he’d cross the galaxy to love against his chest. Finally. Home. 

Padmé looked at the sky and she grew solemn. She kissed each of the twins on the head and gently grasped the back of his neck. 

“Anakin,” she sighed, “It’s time. I’m sorry.”

“What?” Anakin pulled her closer to him, nuzzled his face in her hair, the kids between them. Warm, so warm, why did he feel so deprived, why had it been so long?

She held onto him tighter, a light surrounding her body. “I’m sorry, Ani, I have to go.”

As he held her close he suddenly felt cold, like he might float away, and Luke and Leia were gone; not running nearby or trapping more butterflies, but just gone. Panic began to rise in his throat. 

“Padmé, Padmé…” He tried to hold onto her, the light around her turning sickly blue. “Where are you going?”

She traced the scar on his face, entwined her fingers in his hair, stroked the unblemished skin on his cheek. “I love you. There’s good in you. I know it.” 

The sun turned black and the fields disappeared and Padmé turned translucent in his arms. His voice broke as he pleaded with her ghost. “ _Please_ , I didn’t let it become true, _I promised_ …”All that was left in his wife’s place was a shimmer of icy blue, his arms a mass of black fabric and cold metal; he could hear his own metallic breath. It wasn’t real. He had failed the only ones he loved. 

The black walls around him grew into the ceiling, the low hum of electricity and droids his only company. His skin burned under his layers of armor and rough fabric, the hair his love had run her fingers through gone. The hands that held his children just metal. Cold. He had tried so hard, he had done everything he could, for her, for them, for his family, he had become so powerful for love but now the sunlight was gone, the pleasant waterfall gone, his children gone, his wife gone gone gone and all he had was the blackness around and inside of him the rasp of his breathing the plastic around his head and he fell to the floor, clutching his chest in almost physical pain as he drew the air into his broken lungs and hollered her name. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first work. I just wanted to write a Force ghost/dream thing of Anakin after he becomes Vader and I made myself cry in the process, lol. If you read this and like it let me know, or if you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them <3


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